Russia is using Tu-95MS strategic bombers to strike Ukraine — aircraft the Kremlin allegedly stole in Kazakhstan after the collapse of the USSR — and they went on to form the backbone of Moscow’s strategic aviation fleet, according to Ivan Kirichevsky, a servicemember of the 413th SBS “Raid” regiment and a Defense Express expert.
Events in the early 1990s now shape Russia’s ability to employ strategic aviation against Ukraine, Kirichevsky said in a Facebook post.
In 1992, Russia received 40 Tu-95MS bombers that, at the time of the Soviet collapse, were based in Kazakhstan. They were stationed at the Semipalatinsk airfield as part of the 79th Air Division. This formed the “core” of Russia’s fleet of this bomber type. Of these aircraft, 27 were the MS16 modification, capable of carrying cruise missiles on external pylons, and another 13 were the MS6 variant, which can carry missiles only in the bomb bay.
“For comparison, Russia itself at the start of 1992 had up to 27 Tu-95MS bombers, while Ukraine had 21 Tu-95MS aircraft in the MS6 variant (with missiles only in the bomb bay). Just to remind you, in 1999 the Russians took from us for gas only eight Tu-160s and just three Tu-95MS; the rest of our long-range bombers were scrapped,” Kirichevsky said.
According to him, it remains unclear how exactly Russia obtained the Kazakh aircraft: there are versions about outright theft or a swap for Tu-95K-22s, but none has been fully confirmed. It is known, however, that at the beginning of 1992, Kazakhstan’s military leadership had relatively weak control over the 79th Air Division at the Semipalatinsk airfield.
“A solid fact that’s been known since then looks like this - when the Russians, inspired by the ‘Kazakh’ success, tried in that same 1992 to hijack our Tu-95MS from Uzyn, our military rolled ‘Shilkas’ onto the runway, and in the end the Russians failed,” Kirichevsky added.
It is known that Russia has not produced Tu-95MS aircraft since 1992. That means the bombers from Kazakhstan are the ones Russia is now using to strike Ukraine. Kirichevsky said he shared this history to illustrate that in the 1990s, Ukraine safeguarded its military potential far better than is often portrayed today.
